Hello, Greater Greater Washington community! I’m Sarah Guidi, Greater Greater Washington’s Managing Director. Since starting six weeks ago, I’ve been busy working to strengthen the organization behind the blog. Thanks in large part to the help and support of the many smart and talented volunteers and staff, these efforts are paying off!

You may be wondering why Greater Greater Washington needs a managing director. That’s a great question!

As you probably know, Greater Greater Washington has grown quite a bit in the last year. In July, we received a grant to focus more intentionally on housing issues in the region. That allowed us to bring Jonathan Neeley, our staff editor, on full time, which helps the blog further our mission of helping people better understand the forces shaping their communities.

The grant also means that we can build organizational capacity — our ability to plan and make decisions, carry out our plans and monitor progress, and use our resources responsibly. This is where I will focus most of my time.

Here’s what I’ll be doing

The grant and your generous donations give us great financial stability for the next year or so (thank you!), but Greater Greater Washington needs additional funding sources. A big part of my job is to ensure that we meet our fundraising targets so we can continue to help build informed and engaged communities, on and offline.

I’m also responsible for keeping the organization running day to day and ensuring that we’re complying with legal and grant obligations. In the last two months, this has involved finding office space, formalizing bookkeeping and payroll, creating an organizational budget, and drafting policies and procedures to help the organization run smoothly.

I have also worked with David Alpert, Jonathan, the Board of Directors, and the Editorial Board to draft organizational goals for Greater Greater Washington for the coming year.

One thing that attracted me to Greater Greater Washington is the important role that volunteers play, not only in generating content, but in making decisions about the organization. I don’t want that to change! Even though we have paid staff, contributors will continue to play a large, important role in writing, editing, and decision-making.

A little bit about me

I am a social worker. Many social workers support social justice causes by working with children and families. I do it by working with communities and organizations. I love that I get to be a part of an organization that helps people learn about and engage in public policy and community processes to lead to a more livable DC region for everyone!

Outside of work, I enjoy reading (mostly fiction), eating, traveling, and re-learning gymnastics skills I developed as a child.

  1. Best book I read recently: The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
  2. Upcoming travel adventure: a trip to Costa Rica in February with my husband, Tim
  3. Favorite gymnastic trick: roundoff backhandspring back tuck (Google it!)

If you share my love of any of these things, let’s chat!

I plan to keep the Greater Greater Washington community in the loop about what’s happening behind the scenes, so expect to hear from me periodically. If you have questions about the organization behind the blog, please don’t hesitate to ask!

If you have thoughts about ways to strengthen the organization, or if you want to support our efforts by volunteering or make a donation, Sarah would love to hear from you. You can send her an email at: sguidi@ggwash.org.

Sarah Guidi was Greater Greater Washington's Managing Director from 2015 to 2018. She now lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with her family.